Changes Afoot for Mamaroneck's Department of Public Works and Parks Department

The Village of Mamaroneck has fielded a number of complaints regarding the state of the municipality’s parks, prompting the Board of Trustees to consider separating the Parks Department from the Department of Public Works (DPW), a potential move that caused the most contested debate during last night’s board meeting.

As it currently stands, the Village of Mamaroneck’s Parks Department workers report to the DPW supervisor. A very tan Mayor Norman Rosenblum—who recently returned from a vacation in Florida—said he had directed Village Manager Richard Slingerland to look into what it would take to make the separation possible.

The board passed the resolution by a vote of four to one to reassign Parks Department personnel to be under the direct supervision of the village manager’s office, even though all departments in the village ultimately report to that body.

The resolution holds the village manger responsible for enacting this change “so that the village operations improve and operate at a higher level of efficiency and effectiveness, and that all operational divisions continue to work and cooperate together to the greatest benefit of the Village of Mamaroneck.”

But several commentators wondered what changes, if any, would really take place, arguing that the separation is cosmetic and that there is no real way to measure the effect of the new arrangement.

Trustee John Hofstetter raised the issue of union contracts and the need to potentially renegotiate, but Slingerland and other board members in favor of the change shot down his arguments.

There is “no obstruction to doing what’s been proposed,” said Slingerland, who spoke with the DPW’s general foreman and union representatives, who related that there was no need to renegotiate and that the proposal was acceptable

Along with Hofstetter, some residents were unclear just how the park's functions would run differently than they do now.

As it stands currently, parks workers are sometimes pulled from performing park maintenance and clean-up duties to take care of more pressing issues, like sanitation and road work.

Slingerland has a full plate, said Hofstetter, who wondered how he could add direct supervision of parks workers to his already full slate of duties.

Resident Stuart Tiekert said that at the work session, when asked what would be different about the new arrangement, the board responded with 30 seconds of silence.

“I’m concerned about my parks,” said Tiekert. “What is going to change?”

The Mayor responded that the purpose was to improve productivity and improve the parks themselves with the new structure. Hofstetter replied that the situation was no different than it is currently.

Resident Dan Natchez said that the issue is a limited labor supply and that the only way to improve the parks and ensure that the DPW can stay on top of its workload is to hire more people, an impossibility under the current economic situation.

To change the structure, not the underlying issue, seems backwards, said Natchez, who contended that the village faced two choices: either hire more people or eliminate tasks that cannot be completed.

Trustee Toni Pergola Ryan said that the new measure would ensure a focus on the parks before workers are pulled off park duty to do other work. In years past, parks workers did not serve under the DPW. She felt that the new arrangement would ensure that a dedicated core of workers would focus on the parks and could not be taken off park duty during the warmer months.

“Maybe the past was better,” said Ryan. "People remember the way the parks “looked like in the past and want to see them look that way again.”